Appendix
This document provides graphs and summarizing tables of retention and class performance for a variety of STEM subjects at APU. Data are from Fall 2015 - Summer 2022 and are courtesy of APU’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.
Freshmen retention is defined as whether a student is enrolled in nonzero units in the following Fall. For example, freshmen starting in Fall 2019 are considered retained if they are taking classes in Fall 2020. Only first-time freshmen starting in a Fall semester are included in analyses using this definition.
STEM retention is defined as whether a student who declared a major in one of three STEM departments (Math and Physics, Biology and Chemistry, or Engineering and Computer Science) is enrolled in nonzero units and still has a major in one of those departments at least one year later.
Note: because retention rates are nearly always above 50% in these data, most of the following visualizations have a truncated scale (50% - 100%) to make differences visibly easier to discern.
APU Freshmen Retention
By Year
Historically, Freshman retention at APU has been high (>80%). The drop in the Fall 2019 cohort is among the freshman cohort for whom COVID hit in spring of their freshman year, and fewer returned for the fully online year in Fall 2020. The retention rate has increased the past two years but is not yet back at pre-pandemic levels.
| cohort | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| cohort1_f15 | 1024 | 0.861 |
| cohort2_f16 | 931 | 0.832 |
| cohort3_f17 | 904 | 0.830 |
| cohort4_f18 | 898 | 0.816 |
| cohort5_f19 | 520 | 0.761 |
| cohort6_f20 | 479 | 0.781 |
| cohort7_f21 | 493 | 0.794 |
The overall decline in first-time freshman enrollment can be seen in the sample size column (n) above.
By Sex
Freshmen retention is about 5 percentage points lower for males compared to females.
| sex | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| F | 3568 | 0.836 |
| M | 1681 | 0.782 |
By First Generation Status
Freshmen retention is about 5 percentage points lower for first generation students compared to non first-generation students.
| first_gen | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| 1GEN | 1685 | 0.784 |
| NOT_1GEN | 3564 | 0.836 |
By Commuter Status
Freshmen retention is 4 percentage points lower for commuters than for non-commuters.
| commuter_status | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| commuter | 1136 | 0.788 |
| non-commuter | 4113 | 0.827 |
By International Status
Freshmen retention is about 6.5 percentage points lower for international students compared to domestic students.
| intl | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| Dmstc | 5100 | 0.820 |
| Intl | 149 | 0.756 |
By Ethnicity
Freshmen retention differs by ethnicity, with the highest retention rates among Asian (86%) and white students (84%) and the lowest retention rates among Black or African American (74%) and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander students (68%). Sample sizes can be seen in the table below.
| ethnicity_ipeds | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 12 | 0.750 |
| Asian | 551 | 0.860 |
| Black or African American | 243 | 0.739 |
| Hispanics of any race | 1663 | 0.800 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 42 | 0.677 |
| Nonresident Alien | 150 | 0.781 |
| Race and Ethnicity unknown | 38 | 0.844 |
| Two or more races | 399 | 0.824 |
| White | 2091 | 0.838 |
| NA | 60 | 0.833 |
Honors Students
Honors students have the highest retention rate among any subgroup (94%).
| honors | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| HON | 694 | 0.942 |
| NOT_HON | 4555 | 0.802 |
Undeclared Students
Freshmen who entered with an undeclared major have retention rates that are 7.5 percentage points lower compared to freshman who enter with a declared major.
| was_undeclared | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4747 | 0.826 |
| 1 | 502 | 0.754 |
Athlete Retention
| athlete_ind | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4669 | 0.815 |
| 1 | 580 | 0.849 |
Number of Close Classmates
The below graphs shows the total number of classmates freshmen had in their first two semesters and their retention outcome. Note that freshmen who left after one semester are not included in this figure.
By California Native Status
Freshmen retention is similar among out-of-state students compared to California native students.
| CA_native | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| CA | 4143 | 0.824 |
| Other | 1106 | 0.799 |
By Zip Code
Freshmen retention differs somewhat by student (home) zip code, with lowest retention rates among students with an Azusa zipcode. This likely reflects the high proportion of first generation students among Azusa natives. “Surrounding Azusa” is defined as Glendora, Covina, West Covina, San Dimas, Baldwin Park, Arcadia, and El Monte.
| azusa_native | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| Azusa | 28 | 0.757 |
| Other | 5125 | 0.818 |
| Surrounding Azusa | 96 | 0.857 |
Freshman Retention by STEM Department
Freshmen retention is slightly lower (4 - 5 percentage points) among ECS majors compared to B&C and MPS majors.
| first_org | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| UGBIOCHEM | 587 | 0.816 |
| UGCS | 162 | 0.768 |
| UGMATHPHYS | 51 | 0.810 |
There is significant variation in freshmen retention among different majors within departments. However, be cautious of the small sample sizes within some majors.
Department of Biology and Chemistry
| acad_plan | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| ALHEBA | 154 | 0.870 |
| ALHEBAIN | 34 | 0.723 |
| ALHEBS | 116 | 0.829 |
| ALHEBSIN | 13 | 0.812 |
| APPL | 1 | 1.000 |
| BIOCBS | 65 | 0.878 |
| BIOCBSIN | 17 | 0.944 |
| BIOLBS | 215 | 0.840 |
| BIOLBSIN | 57 | 0.740 |
| CHEMBS | 19 | 0.826 |
| CHEMBSIN | 3 | 0.750 |
Department of Engineering and Computer Science
| acad_plan | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| ENG2 | 8 | 0.889 |
| ENGR01 | 63 | 0.741 |
| SYSENG01 | 23 | 0.958 |
| UCIS | 12 | 0.632 |
| UCISBS | 6 | 1.000 |
| UCSI | 107 | 0.823 |
| XUCIS | 1 | 1.000 |
Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics
| acad_plan | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| APPMATH | 25 | 0.893 |
| MATHBA | 50 | 0.893 |
| MATHBS | 9 | 0.900 |
| PHYS | 17 | 0.810 |
STEM Retention
Recall: STEM retention is defined as whether a student who declared a major in one of three STEM departments (Math and Physics, Biology and Chemistry, or Engineering and Computer Science) is enrolled in nonzero units and still has a major in one of those departments at least one year later.
Overall, STEM retention at APU is 61%. In other words, 4 in 10 students who start as a STEM major do not persist in a STEM major at APU.
By Sex
STEM retention is sightly lower (4 percentage points) for females compared to males. This is in contrast to overall freshmen retention, which was 5 percentage points higher for females.
| sex | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| F | 689 | 0.591 |
| M | 570 | 0.630 |
By First Generation Status
STEM retention is 16 percentage points lower for first generation students compared to continuing generation students.
| first_gen | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| 1GEN | 399 | 0.509 |
| NOT_1GEN | 861 | 0.668 |
By International Status
There is only a small number of international students who are STEM majors (total of 38 from 2015-2022), but they do have a 10 percentage point higher STEM retention rate compared to domestic students.
| intl | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| Dmstc | 1222 | 0.606 |
| Intl | 38 | 0.704 |
By Honors Status
STEM retention is 19 percentage points lower for non-Honors students. This is greater than the difference between Honors and non-Honors students for overall APU retention.
| honors | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| HON | 180 | 0.776 |
| NOT_HON | 1080 | 0.587 |
By Ethnicity
STEM retention differs significantly by ethnicity. Among IPEDS ethnicity categories with at least 50 students, STEM retention is highest among Asian students (66%) and white students (64%) and lowest among students of two or more races (60%), Black students (59%), and Hispanic students of any race (56%).
| ethnicity_ipeds | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 5 | 0.833 |
| Asian | 173 | 0.655 |
| Black or African American | 58 | 0.592 |
| Hispanics of any race | 380 | 0.562 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 9 | 0.360 |
| Nonresident Alien | 41 | 0.695 |
| Race and Ethnicity unknown | 12 | 0.545 |
| Two or more races | 94 | 0.599 |
| White | 472 | 0.636 |
| NA | 16 | 0.696 |
By in-state vs. out-of-state
STEM retention does not differ for California students vs. out-of-state students.
| CA_native | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| CA | 1059 | 0.607 |
| Other | 201 | 0.613 |
By Zip Code
STEM retention is roughly similar for all zip-code categories.
| azusa_native | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| Azusa | 7 | 0.583 |
| Other | 1233 | 0.609 |
| Surrounding Azusa | 20 | 0.571 |
STEM Retention Including non-CLAS STEM
By Sex
| sex | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| F | 1896 | 0.716 |
| M | 1055 | 0.667 |
By First Generation Status
| first_gen | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| 1GEN | 926 | 0.582 |
| NOT_1GEN | 2026 | 0.767 |
By International Status
| intl | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| Dmstc | 2882 | 0.699 |
| Intl | 70 | 0.631 |
By Honors Status
| honors | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| HON | 311 | 0.827 |
| NOT_HON | 2641 | 0.685 |
By Ethnicity
| ethnicity_ipeds | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 8 | 0.889 |
| Asian | 471 | 0.770 |
| Black or African American | 110 | 0.636 |
| Hispanics of any race | 858 | 0.660 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 32 | 0.561 |
| Nonresident Alien | 77 | 0.642 |
| Race and Ethnicity unknown | 28 | 0.583 |
| Two or more races | 251 | 0.719 |
| White | 1083 | 0.713 |
| NA | 34 | 0.756 |
CLAS vs non-CLAS STEM retention
| clas | n | prop |
|---|---|---|
| CLAS | 1330 | 0.642 |
| NOT_CLAS | 1622 | 0.751 |
DFWs and Retention
Graduation outcomes (right) by number of DFWs (left) is shown below. All students who ever declared a STEM major are included in this diagram. Notably, 1,058 of the 3,630 STEM students (29%) who left APU did not have any DFWs prior to leaving.
The below graph shows only the 0-DFW students over admit terms and their current outcome (at APU, graduated, left APU, or did not graduate within 6 years). There was an increase in these students leaving around Spring 2020.
Aleks Scores
ALEKS data begins in Summer 2016, so the analyses in this section are restricted to students whose admit term was Summer 2016 or later.
Overall, about half of APU undergraduates have taken ALEKS. Students may be exempt from taking ALEKS for a variety of reasons, such as a high SAT Math score, AP Calculus, or transfer credit. Honors Humanities and Bachelor of Music majors are also exempt. See full list of ALEKS exemptions here.
Test Taker Demographics
Non-commuters, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, Hispanic students, and Black students are more likely to take ALEKS, but there are no differences among sex, first generation status, or international student status.
| aleks_ind | n |
|---|---|
| Did not take ALEKS | 3988 |
| Took ALEKS | 4104 |
Overal ALEKS trends
There is a slight positive trend between ALEK score and cumulative GPA (among ALEKS-takers). A 10-unit increase in ALEK score is associated with a 0.08 increase in cumulative GPA.
| term | estimate | std.error | statistic | p.value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Intercept) | 2.7194534 | 0.0278079 | 97.79413 | 0 |
| score | 0.0079755 | 0.0006766 | 11.78819 | 0 |
ALEKS scores have remained fairly steady over time, but there was an increase in average scores in late 2021 and early 2022.
Most commonly, students take the ALEKS just one time, but about 6% take it 5 or more times.
Among those who take it multiple times, the median improvement between their highest and lowest score is 17 points.
There does appear to be an increase in average improvement during COVID when the proctoring of ALEKS changed.
ALEKS & Chemistry
Grade in CHEM 151 by type of pre-req
Students who are exempt from the ALEKS/MATH 110 pre-requisite due to having an SAT score \(\geq\) 640 or anther exemption do the best in CHEM 151. The “Other exemption” category is made up of students who did not take ALEKS nor MATH 110, presumably due to meeting one of the other GE Quantitative Literacy waivers (e.g. high school (pre-)calculus grade, AP, IB, or CLEP), though we do not have this data.
Just under 4 in 10 CHEM 151 students who have MATH 110 or an ALEKS score as their pre-req end up with a DFW in CHEM 151 (39% and 36%, respectively), whereas less than 1 in 10 (9%) among those who come in with an SAT exemption get a DFW.
The following Sankey diagram shows the progression from MATH 110 grade to CHEM 151 grade, among those who had to take MATH 110 as a pre-requisite for CHEM 151. Note, the left-hand side shows the grade they recieved in MATH 110 during their first attempt taking the course. About 6% of students who take MATH 110 as a pre-req for CHEM 151 do not receive a B- or higher the first time, and have to re-take the course.
Among students who took ALEKS, there is a discernible relationship between ALEKS score and grade in CHEM 151. “Lowest ALEKS score” is defined as a student’s lowest score among all their attempts. On average, students who receive an A in CHEM 151 have a substantially higher Lowest ALEKS score.
| grade_ABC | Median Lowest ALEKS score |
|---|---|
| A | 65 |
| B | 47 |
| C | 41 |
| DFW | 34 |
| other | 51 |
| grade_ABC | Median Highest ALEKS score |
|---|---|
| A | 78 |
| B | 65 |
| C | 56 |
| DFW | 61 |
| other | 51 |
The plots below show the full distribution of ALEKS scores by grade in CHEM 151 (among students who took both).
ALEKS & Biology
The pre-requisite for BIOL 151 is MATH 95, ALEKS score of 45+, or equivalent.
Grade in BIOL 151 by type of pre-req
Similar to CHEM 151, students who are exempt from the ALEKS/MATH 95 pre-requisite due to having an SAT score \(\geq\) 640 or anther exemption do the best in BIOL 151. The “Other exemption” category is made up of students who did not take ALEKS nor MATH 95, presumably due to meeting one of the other GE Quantitative Literacy waivers (e.g. high school (pre-)calculus grade, AP, IB, or CLEP), though we do not have this data.
About 3 in 10 BIOL 151 students who have MATH 95 or an ALEKS score as their pre-req end up with a DFW in BIOL 151 (29% and 27%, respectively), whereas less than 1 in 20 (4%) among those who come in with an SAT exemption get a DFW. However, about 1 in 4 students with another type of exemption (other than SAT) get a DFW in BIOL 151 (23%).
The following Sankey diagram shows the progression from MATH 95 grade to BIOL 151 grade, among those who had to take MATH 95 as a pre-requisite for BIOL 151. Note, the left-hand side shows the grade they received in MATH 95 during their first attempt taking the course. About 5% of students who take MATH 95 as a pre-req for BIOL 151 do not pass the first time, and have to re-take the course.
Among students who took ALEKS, there is a discernible relationship between ALEKS score and grade in BIOL 151. “Lowest ALEKS score” is defined as a student’s lowest score among all their attempts. Similar to CHEM 151, on average, students who receive an A in BIOL 151 have a substantially higher Lowest ALEKS score.
| grade_ABC | Median Lowest ALEKS score |
|---|---|
| A | 58.0 |
| B | 41.0 |
| C | 37.0 |
| DFW | 34.5 |
| other | 34.0 |
| grade_ABC | Median Highest ALEKS score |
|---|---|
| A | 71 |
| B | 61 |
| C | 53 |
| DFW | 56 |
| other | 61 |
The plots below show the full distribution of ALEKS scores by grade in BIOL 151 (among students who took both).
Class Progression and Retention
The same data for MATH110 is shown below.
General Chemistry I Retention
All students who took CHEM151 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined two semesters later.
Note the fewer A’s and higher likelihood of leaving APU for first generation students in this and other introductory classes. Sex and commuter status appear to have less relationship with performance and retention.
General Chemistry II Retention
All students who took CHEM152 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.
Introductory Sequence
Only students with majors in the Biology and Chemistry department when taking these classes are included in this diagram. A student is considered retained if they are still in STEM one semester after the last of these classes that they have already taken.
Mathematics
Calculus I Retention
All students who took this class as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.
Calculus II Retention
All students who took this class as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.
Introductory Statistics Retention
All students who took this class as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.
Introductory Sequence
Only students with majors in the Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics are included in this diagram. A student is considered retained if they are still in STEM one semester after the last of these classes that they have already taken.
Biology
Biology 151
All students who took BIO151 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.
Biology 152
All students who took BIO152 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.
Introductory Sequence
Only students with majors in the Biology and Chemistry department when taking these classes are included in this diagram. A student is considered retained if they are still in STEM one semester after the last of these classes that they have already taken.